My week was mixed. I got both my workouts in and have decided I really like working out with my fitness partner/trainer. She, I think, is really stressed out though. Hopefully she can get some things straightened out so I don't feel bad for dragging her to the gym. I increased my cardio time and we tried some new exercises with a plan to add more on Tuesday.
With the cold weather my chronic sinus infection came back with a vengeance (because I am mildly immune deficient I tend to run low grade sinus infections for a month at a time because I provide the perfect place for bacteria that normally is too weak to even bother humans to multiply, fun!). I had horrible sinus and tooth pain and congestion for the week, but it has cleared up with two days in the warm great indoors. We will see if it stays that way.
I am really having a problem with food. I have an odd schedule where I am completely tied up from 11 to 2 most days and I just haven't found a way to get lunch in. Anything I eat would have to be before or after that time and be cold and packed or from a local coffee shop or restaurant because I don't have access to a microwave. I can be starving but don't have much of an appetite because of nausea, especially for cold food that I have to take time to pre-prepare. Other than that I am eating at 8 a.m. when I take my medications (they have to be taken with food) and fighting nausea. I can't have any dairy or calcium when I take one of them, so I generally don't eat protein with breakfast because I can't stand in the morning to cook. Then I eat a large meal about 6 p.m. It isn't working at all.
I also had two doctor's appointments this past week. One was with a n.p. in women's health that I see because I deal with constant heavy breakthrough bleeding. We switched my prescription again, but she is at the point that she doesn't know what to do since there appears to be no treatable cause. I also had an appointment with my cardiologist. He put me on a new medication to raise my blood pressure, but I have to closely monitor my blood pressure as I introduce it and either my b.p. is fluctuating wildly or my cuff is broken. I have had to stop taking it until I can check my cuff against a reliable one. He is also doing a basic blood panel because of the exhaustion I have been having. On one hand I am glad he checks, but on the other hand it will come up all negative like all the rest. I guess it is easier to check for horses than it is to attempt to treat (or tell me I have to live with) Zebras.
I also had another big surprise. In the past 45 days or so I have gained 20 pounds. The nurse practitioner that deals with most of my care at my cardio's office is very concerned because after careful review of my activity levels and food intake we can't figure out a "normal" reason for the gain. Prior to this I had gained 6 pounds in August from a medication, but had otherwise remained the same weight within like 8 pounds for the past 5 years. I have been more active (swimming, walking, working out) and have been eating fewer calories (because of the nausea) but not enough to cause a dangerous or starvation deficit. I honestly don't know whether I need to hit the gym harder or if this is caused by something serious that needs to be treated, but either way I am not at the top end of the healthy range for my weight and as a heart patient I need to not gain anything else. I guess because I am tallish and gain weight fairly evenly I hadn't really noticed. I mean, I had a couple pairs of pants that got tighter, but apparently 20 pounds isn't even a full size for me. I did measure myself and I did gain 2 inches in the waist and one in the bust in January.
ARGH!
